Figures in Motion and Sculptural Ceramics

About

Frances Doherty

"My inspiration comes from flowers and plants that we see all around us, in gardens, fields even cracks in the pavement. I particularly love the secret worlds inside these flowers, in the patterns and textures hidden away that give a continuing sense of promise and renewal.

Until 2005 my work had been mainly in the domestic & functional arena, but then I decided to work on larger, often one off, sculptural pieces. So far, I have concentrated on the forms of seed pods and fruiting bodies which ties in with my earlier work, but which looks completely different.

I like to play with scale and will often imagine the size that a plant must appear to an insect...what is it about the flower that attracts or repels? Often I will scale my sculpture up so that we can have an 'insects eye view' of it."

"I work in stoneware, throwing the basic shape of the sculpture, then I alter and model onto it. This gives me a certain speed and control which is the way I prefer to work. My pieces are high fired so that they can go into an interior or exterior environment.

My glazes are chosen to compliment the form and are often slightly chrystalline or irradescent, this makes the pieces glow."

Jane Denman

Contemporary dance fuels me as a painter by presenting beautiful, passionate, emotional, and extraordinary movements of the body in space. I work with a variety of media, especially water-based paints, to create worlds of theatrical dance through drips, splashes, and rivulets of colour. I work as a full time painter and live in West Sussex. www.janedenman.com